Two ways to test a storage management application are to deploy a storage area network device or to use a hardware-based emulator. Testing a storage management application in either of these ways, however, has several disadvantages. First, storage area network devices or even hardware-based emulators can be very expensive and may involve dedicated personnel for setup and maintenance. Second, to test the application for each available storage array to ensure compatibility and correctness may be time consuming and add to the expense as a storage array or emulator for each vendor may be needed. Finally, sometimes new industry standards are created that no existing storage system supports.